Dude, I walked on the Great Wall

Touristy, sure. Crowded up the wazoo, of course. But c'mon, it's the Great Wall! It's visible from space! And all the pushy postcard vendors and annoying Europeans couldn't ruin this moment for me. Huzzah!

At one point, it was about a 75-degree incline to the fifth tower at the Badaling section of the Great Wall, but watching little old Chinese ladies make it up, we could not falter! And indeed, I have returned to the United States as a "real man," since the Chinese proverb goes 不到长城非好汉 bú dào Chángchéng fēi hǎo hàn, with the rough translation of "you're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall." I wonder how far you must climb to technically reach "real man" status? I mean, you could basically walk up a couple of steps, turn around and buy a commemorative t-shirt, but how "real man" is that, eh? Not very.